Cleveland Browns Must Give the Ball To Rookie Quarterback Dillon Gabriel To Save Their Season

In 2023, the Cleveland Browns went 11-6 and made the playoffs with Deshaun Watson and Joe Flacco as their quarterbacks. They did so because they had one of the NFL’s best defenses under Jim Schwartz, and it didn’t matter that the team ranked 28th in Offensive DVOA, because they also ranked second in Defensive DVOA, behind only the Baltimore Ravens. 

In 2024, injuries demolished that defense, and the Browns went 3-14, because the offense ranked dead last in DVOA with Deshaun Watson and Jameis Winston as the primary quarterbacks. 

Through three games in the 2025 season, the 1-2 Browns are in the same bag they were in 2023 – a great defense being dragged back to mediocrity by a horrid passing game. The Browns rank third in Defensive DVOA behind only the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, and the offense ranks 29th in Offensive DVOA, ahead of only the Carolina Panthers, the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals, and the Tennessee Titans.

Flacco is back as the main quarterback, and so far, the 40-year-old veteran… has looked like a 40-year-old veteran. He’s completed 77 of 126 passes for 631 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 65.9, the NFL’s worst among starting quarterbacks. Flacco also has the league’s second-worst EPA per dropback at -0.35; only Jake Browning, Burrow’s replacement in Cincinnati, has been worse.

Moreover — and this shows up on the tape as opposed to in the metrics — Flacco is turning down easy completions far too often. Sideline throws and progression reads that he was once able to make easily just aren't there now for whatever reason.

“It’s little things here, little things there that kind of take you off of it or the situation of the game maybe, whatever it may be," Flacco said Wednesday when asked about the downfield opportunities with no positive result. "I think every time you go back and watch film, there’s some things that maybe you thought you could hit and that was true or wasn’t, and this was no other. I think I was, in the moment, a little bit disappointed about a couple opportunities that I thought I might have had. And I think there was opportunities there. But I also can see maybe why I didn’t do what I did, maybe why I did do what I did.

"I think you’re going to have those all the time, and I think the biggest thing with this one is at least we were able to win the football game and learn from those things. You watch it on the film, and maybe the next time you get in those situations, you treat it a little bit differently.”

This can’t hold if the Browns hope to be competitive. Before they outlasted the Packers 13-10 last Sunday, the Browns became the second team in pro football history to start a season 0-2 despite allowing fewer than 400 total yards in those two games.

The other team was the 1994 Arizona Cardinals, who finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs under head coach Buddy Ryan – one of the greatest defensive coaches of all time, but not a guy known for his love of the quarterback position. Those Cardinals ranked 27th in points scored, and fourth in points allowed – a very Buddy Ryan split. Also a very Cleveland Browns split.

On Tuesday, the New York Giants announced that rookie Jaxson Dart would replace Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback, because Wilson gave them no choice. I would posit that this was the right thing to do, and I would also posit that it’s time for the Browns to do the same thing. 

Head coach Kevin Stefanski has the guy in rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon, In his first preseason, Gabriel completed 25 of 37 passes for 272 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 86.8. If you want to disregard those stats because it was the preseason, check out this eight-yard touchdown pass to rookie halfback Dylan Sampson against the Ravens in Week 2 of the regular season. It was a simple choice route for Sampson out of the backfield, but Gabriel made it special with the touch pass he threw over the heads of cornerback T.J. Tampa and safety Reuben Lowery. 

Flacco’s touch throws this season have not had that same touch. 

Gabriel would certainly go through the normal rookie struggles as the starter, but Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry have been saying since the draft how well Gabriel fits in Stefanski’s ideal offense. It’s time to test the theory, because the Browns can’t keep wasting great defenses with offenses that can’t even get out of the garage before the car crashes start to happen.